1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to hammers and hammer heads that may be used to extract nails or other fasteners. In particular, the present invention is directed to a hammer or hammer head having a frontal extractor.
2. Description of Related Art
Most conventional hammers are of either the straight rip-claw type or the curved-claw type. Both types are used for nail extraction. These claw hammers have a striking head or poll on the front of the hammer head, and a nail-removing claw located at the back of the hammer head opposite the striking head. Claw hammers are used for various household purposes and in the construction industry, such as for framing and finishing work, as well as for ripping and other demolition work. Of course, these uses are merely identified for example purposes; hammers may be used in other applications for various other purposes.
One significant limitation of conventional claw hammers is that they cannot be used to extract nails easily or quickly. This is largely due to the fact that once the nail is extracted a distance of about one inch, leverage is substantially reduced. In particular, as the nail is extracted using the conventional claw hammer, the fulcrum point moves away from the nail, thereby effectively decreasing the leverage and effectively increasing the required force that must be exerted by the user of the hammer to further extract the nail. This disadvantage or limitation of the conventional claw hammer is especially problematic when the nails are designed to be difficult to extract. For instance, large nails, glue-coated nails, or nails having ribbed shanks may be very difficult to extract and may therefore require exertion of substantial force by the user to do so.
Other limitations of the conventional claw hammer relate to the extraction of relatively long nails, or nails that have already been partially removed from a surface. Due to the geometry of the conventional claw in relation to the striking portion of the hammer head, complete extraction is often impeded. In addition, if the nail to be extracted is especially long, extraction using a conventional claw may also severely bend the nail so that complete extraction is further impeded. To extract such long nails, it is often necessary for a carpenter to use a special nail-pulling tool in addition to the hammer, or to find a block of wood or other object to place underneath the head of the hammer to raise the hammer so as to reestablish the fulcrum point above the surface for greater leverage.
Various solutions have been proposed to try to overcome the above described limitations of conventional claw hammers. In particular, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,279,876, 5,441,236, 5,249,776, 5,060,911, 4,998,996, 4,533,116, 4,422,620, 2,657,903, and 2,589,046 all disclose claw hammers in which the positioning of the fulcrum is enhanced or otherwise made adjustable to provide adequate leverage to facilitate nail extraction, especially of long nails. In this regard, these proposed hammers provide a movable mechanism that extends outwardly from the top of the hammer that provides an elevated fulcrum point to allow the extraction of long nails. The proposed solutions, however, utilize various moving parts that increase the cost and decrease the durability of the hammers. In addition, in many proposed implementations, the hammers must be manually adjusted to provide for the extended fulcrum, which makes the use of the hammers with such features cumbersome, inconvenient, and time-consuming. A moveable, extensible fulcrum also decreases the stability of the hammers, and along with the wear and breakage of the fulcrum mechanism inevitably occasioned by the conventional striking and ripping uses of the hammers, creates a substantial risk of injury to the user.
Other solutions have also been proposed to try to overcome the above limitations of conventional claw hammers. For instance, U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,239,719, 1,535,685, 1,425,369, and 559,049 all disclose hammers having multiple claws to allow engagement and extraction of long nails and nails that extend from a surface at various lengths. Such proposed claw hammers, however, still fail to address the leverage limitation caused by the movement of the fulcrum away from the nail. The various proposed solutions fail to solve the inefficiencies associated with extraction by conventional means, and in turn create separate problems that engender either additional inefficiencies, such as breakage, instability, time waste, exhaustion, and potential injury, or various interferences with the full functioning of the conventional claw hammer.
Still another limitation of the conventional claw hammer is that due to the positioning of the claw on the hammer head, the user must reverse his grip and/or turn the hammer around to use the claw. This impedes work efficiency in situations where nails must be driven and extracted quickly on a continuous basis. For instance, weaker nails such as aluminum, brass, or galvanized nails tend to bend when being driven into harder woods or surfaces. Of course, these bent nails must be removed so that a replacement nail may be inserted instead. Each extraction and insertion of another replacement nail would entail reversing the rip and/or turning the claw hammer around twice. U.S. Pat. No. 1,252,903 discloses a lathing hatchet having a claw positioned below a hammer poll on the same side of the hatchet. The lathing hatchet of the '903 reference cannot be used like a conventional hammer, however, because a claw is not provided opposite to the hammer poll. Moreover, the claw of the disclosed lathing hatchet fails to provide sufficient leverage to accomplish efficient or complete extraction of most nails. In particular, long nails and nails that extend from a surface at various lengths cannot be easily extracted using the disclosed lathing hatchet. Furthermore, to extract most nails, the disclosed lathing hatchet requires substantial repositioning in order to engage nails with means separate from the claw, and also anticipates the use of additional means, such as a block of wood, in order to complete extraction. In this regard, the disclosed lathing hatchet admits of inefficiencies similar to those inherent in the proposed solutions to the problems associated with using the conventional claw hammer as a nail extractor.
Lastly, U.S. Pat. No. D438,082 discloses an ornamental design for a hammer with a provision for holding a nail in place so that the nail may be initially driven into a surface without the user having to hold the nail with the other hand. The nail appears to be held in place by a set screw that engages the shank of the nail. The use of this holding feature is cumbersome, however, because it requires tightening and loosening of the set screw each time the user desires to use the holding feature.
Therefore, in view of the above, an unfulfilled need still exists for an improved hammer that avoids the above described limitations of the conventional and prior art hammers. In particular, an unfulfilled need still exists for an improved hammer that facilitates the extraction of nails, that permits the full functioning of the hammer as a hammer, and that provides additional functionality and features enhancing the utility of the hammer.